


Cat Got Your Tongue?

by emeraldonyxdragon



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cats, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Pet Store
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 10:18:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13385754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldonyxdragon/pseuds/emeraldonyxdragon
Summary: Moving was a pain. Moving with pets was worse. Luckily, Yuri knew how to fix that; with a trip to the nearby pet store to spoil Potya. The attractive guy who worked at said shop did not factor into that decision. Nope, not at all.





	Cat Got Your Tongue?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thoughtsappear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thoughtsappear/gifts).



Yuri flattened the last moving box and wiped his sweaty forehead with his hand.  
“Phew! Finally done Potya!” Potya meowed from the cardboard box that had served as her bed for the past week. Yuri walked over and rubbed the top of her fuzzy head. Potya purred, pleased.

  
“Thank you for putting up with me until I got all this stuff squared away; now I can pamper you,” Yuri told his purring kitty. Pulling up his phone with the other hand, he looked up the closest pet shop.

 

  
‘Petz!’ The glowing sign above the shop declared.

  
“Well that’s dorky,” remarked Yuri. But it also happened to be the only place that was a short walk away, so Petz! it was. Yuri pushed the door open and a tinkling bell announced his presence.  
The inside of the shop was less dorky than the outside. It was well lit and clearly divided between all the useless sections and the cat section of the store. Yuri walked purposefully there, a man on a mission: to get Potya the best cat toys he could afford on a student’s salary. Well, maybe not the best of the best, but that’s what savings were for! Since he had put Potya through the stress of moving so he could go to college, the least he could do make it up to her with some new stuff.

  
As he moved through the aisles, he heard a voice call out. Oh no, an employee found him. They were always so annoying to talk to, especially when they tried to be overly friendly. Yuri turned, a glare on his face, and stopped short.

  
Oh. Oh. Well, maybe not all pet shop workers were that bad. The worker, indicated by his paw-printed apron, walked down the aisle towards him, a small generic smile on his face. Otabek, his name tag read. Otabek was his height, with shiny black hair and dark eyes. He was stunning. Yuri finally registered that the man’s lips had been moving and tuned in to his words. God, even his voice was deep and sexy. Y’know, maybe moving for college wasn’t such a terrible idea after all.

  
“-sir?”

  
“Huh?”

  
“Would you like some help finding something sir?” he repeated patiently.

  
“Oh!” Yuri blushed. “I was, uh, looking for something for my cat, Potya.”

  
“Well,” Otabek indicated the aisle. “We are in the right section of the store. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

  
Yuri thought of the cardboard box that Potya had been left lounging in, “A bed! I mean, Potya has a bed, but a place for her to just hang out in would be nice,” Yuri said.

  
The corners of Otabek’s eyes crinkled a bit and he said, “Right this way.” He brought Yuri to the end of the aisle and showed him a kitty hammock. “Potya can ‘hang’ here and you can flip it over from the fleece to the cotton side depending on the weather,” he explained.

  
Yuri’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “This looks so cool!” He hunted around and came up with a tiger print version. Otabek didn’t even know the store carried that version. “Excellent!” Yuri exclaimed. “I’ll take this one!”

  
“Of course,” Otabek led the way back up to the counter and desperately tried to think of a non-creepy way to ask the attractive guy for his number. But maybe he wasn’t interested in him. Though, he was blushing when they met earlier...but maybe that was just wishful thinking. Otabek let out a barely audible sigh. Yuri didn’t notice, too preoccupied with the hammock.

  
Otabek quickly ran through the purchase and sent a happy Yuri on his way. He watched the young man all but skip out of the store, new kitty hammock in tow. Perhaps a little distracted by Yuri’s retreating figure, Otabek jumped when a mischievous voice whispered in his ear,

  
“Like what you see?”

  
“Ah! Leo, don’t do that!”

  
Leo laughed and leaned over the counter, glancing at Yuri as he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. “So, what’s the cutie’s number?”

  
Otabek looked away, cheeks crimson.

  
Leo sighed, sounding very put-upon, “Otabek, buddy,” he patted Otabek’s shoulder comfortingly. “You’ll never get a date with a hot guy if you don’t ask said hot guy out.”

  
Otabek shrugged off Leo’s hand. “Maybe next time,” he replied, mostly to get Leo off his back. That was the trouble with shyness; it didn’t make it easy to talk to people he didn’t know very well, let alone attractive strangers. Well, Yuri perhaps wasn’t quite a stranger; Otabek knows he has a cat, named Potya, who now has a tiger-striped cat hammock. Otabek sighs. He really was desperate.

 

  
Yuri balanced the small box in one hand and opened his new apartment door with the other. The second the door began to swing open, Yuri jammed his foot in the gap. Not a moment too soon either because Potya’s investigative meows were heard from around his ankle. Well experienced in the cat-blocking door shuffle, Yuri got in the apartment while Potya didn’t get out.

  
“Hi kitty!” greeted Yuri. “Look what I got you!” Setting the box down on the table, Yuri cut open the tape and swiftly assembled the mini hammock. Setting it down next to Potya’s cardboard box, Yuri stood back and let Potya examine the new addition.

  
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first thing Potya did was hop into the box that the hammock was in and not the hammock itself. Yuri decided to lay on his couch and scroll through his phone until the cat was done playing with the box. Some time later, Yuri noticed movement out of the corner of his vision and subtly glanced over. If his movement was too obvious, then Potya would notice and wander away.

  
Potya sniffed the hammock curiously and prodded it with a paw, jumping back when it began to swing. Yuri, even more surreptitiously, began to film on his phone. Potya’s tail was swaying in the air and she pounced on the hammock. Cat and hammock swung dramatically but somehow they both managed to stay attached, cat to hammock and hammock to its metal base. Once the swinging stopped, Potya raised her head and majestically looked out over her kingdom. Hammock conquered, Potya then jumped off and began to wander away. The swinging hammock swatted her bottom as she walked though, and Potya, startled, was off like a shot, disappearing around the corner in a blur.

  
Yuri couldn’t stop his face from grinning and stifled laughter; that was great! He immediately posted the short video and basked in the quickly rising notifications and likes. Then, a lightbulb went off in his head: he clearly needed to buy more gifts for Potya, if she was going to continue to react in that way. Yuri of course, didn’t let himself dwell on the fact that buying more cat toys would require going back to the shop. The shop with that attractive Otabek. Yuri would screw up his courage and ask him out, definitely.  
Mind made up, Yuri triumphantly strode to his room, only to have his foot slide out from under him with a loud squeaking noise. Talented skater though he was, Yuri was not so good on the ground and he fell with a resounding thump on his rear.

  
“Owwww” Yuri complained. He picked up the offending item and squeezed it angrily, making it squeak again. “Potyaaaaa! What did I say about leaving your mice in the middle of the hall?” Yuri harrumphed. “At least no one else saw that.”

  
Back at his own apartment that he shared with Leo (the work commute was very convenient), Otabek scrolled through his Instagram and the plethora of animal videos he enjoyed watching. There was a new trending video and he quickly clicked on it. It was of a funny short video of a cute ragdoll cat playing with a...tiger-striped cat hammock? No way, was this Yuri’s cat? How many tiger-striped hammocks existed in their small college town anyway? Either way, the cat was adorable and hopefully the popular response would encourage Yuri to come back to the shop. And Otabek could ask him out, definitely. Well, maybe. He would definitely consider it.

 

  
A few days later, his wish was granted. Otabek was organizing the back aisles of the shop when he heard Leo’s voice greet an incoming customer. Not paying much attention, Otabek continued his work organizing the new cat collars that came in. He paused arranging the tiger-striped ones. Maybe Yuri would like it? He then blushed furiously as his mind ran away with him. His cat! Maybe Yuri’s cat would like it! Shaking his head, he put them away and moved on to the next item.

  
He heard light footsteps approach him and turned his head to look, pasting a generic friendly smile on his face. The smile widened and turned more genuine when he saw Yuri get closer. Otabek straightened up hurriedly.

  
“Welcome back, did your cat like the hammock?” Polite, then flirty. I got this, Otabek told himself.  
Yuri smiled back and whipped out his phone, “Of course! Potya loved it! Even though it did attack her the first time,” he edged closer to Otabek to show him something on his phone. Otabek leaned over slightly and breathed in the citrusy scent of Yuri’s shampoo. Oh no, now he was sniffing him. Otabek had it bad.  
Yuri had pulled up Instagram and was showing Otabek that very same cat video that he had been watching a few days ago. “I’ve never had so many notifications for Potya before!” Yuri was explaining.  
“Oh, I’ve seen this before,” said Otabek.

  
Yuri raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

  
“I like animals and saw it when it was trending.”

  
“Gotcha,” Yuri paused and Otabek came to the realization that they still hadn’t moved away from each other, even though Yuri wasn’t showing him anything on the phone anymore. “Hey,” Yuri began, “Do you maybe...want to see my cat? In person I mean.” Yuri took a step back and shuffled his feet, peering up at Otabek from between his blond strands.

  
Is this like a date? Otabek wondered. Before he could chicken out, he was already responding, “Of course I would love to see Potya, and you as well.”

  
Yuri’s cheeks reddened and Otabek gave himself a mental high five. He had no idea where that last bit came from but it seemed to be working.

  
“My shift ends at 4, is that okay?”

  
“No problem; see you then!” responded Yuri and he scampered away without buying anything.

  
Wait, did that mean that Yuri only came to see Otabek? No way. Otabek had a hard time concentrating during the rest of his shift, thinking of Yuri and getting to meet his cat. Clearly, the way to Yuri’s heart was through Potya. With this in mind, Otabek bought the tiger-striped cat collar and put it in his pocket. He would give it to Yuri and ask him out on an official date, once he met Potya and got his/her approval first.

  
Otabek’s uncommonly cheerful disposition and subsequent distraction did not go unnoticed by Leo, who was happy for his friend. It was about time he pounced on something, like a cute boy. Now, if only Otabek would stay on task. Leo sighed as Otabek carelessly knocked over another display, distracted by thoughts of his future pseudo-date. Hopefully the honeymoon period would wear off soon. If Otabek was like this and they weren’t even together yet, Leo didn’t want to contemplate how he would be once they finally made it official.


End file.
